Catch You in the Drift
by love and petrichor
Summary: When Colonel Samantha Carter gets transferred to the Hong Kong Shatterdome, she doesn't expect to find herself butting heads with a certain General Jack O'Neill.
1. Chapter 1

Colonel Samantha Carter weaves through crowds of people in the concrete corridor that connects the entrance of the airport to the interior of the Shatterdome. From every angle she could hear a chorus of shouts ranging from Mandarin and English to languages she can't even recognize.

She feels more out of place more than not despite the fact that she's worked in the Los Angeles Shatterdome for the past five years. There's a different atmosphere to Hong Kong than L.A, a shared anticipation and dread of the next oncoming attack from every person she passes by. It feels a bit overwhelming because even though there was a slimmer of that anticipation back in California, it wasn't to such a degree as Hong Kong.

Also, this is her first time visiting Asia. Not that it makes any difference at all.

She follows the mechanic—what's his name? Miles? Siler?—into the main deck of the Shatterdome. She's pretty sure that this guy is giving her a tour of her new home, which really isn't great because her mind is drifting and she's not listening at all and she knows she's bound to get lost within the vast rooms and interconnected hallways.

"Alright, Colonel," Siler continues, oblivious to Sam's absentminded demeanor. They head to the barracks, concrete and rusty and worn down just like all the other sections of the Shatterdome. Siler then leads her to a door on one end of the hallway. It's a simple door, with a room number and a peephole through the door and a mail slot. It's just the same in Hong Kong as it is in California. "This is where you'll be staying, and here's your key. Your stuff should be inside waiting to be unpacked."

"Thank you."

With a nod and a tired smile, she takes the cold metal in his hands. It's been a long day. She's just about ready to collapse onto her not-so-comfortable bed.

"Top of the morning, Siler!"

A booming voice echoes through the hallways. Sam's head turns and finds two men walking towards her and the mechanic.

"Good morning, General O'Neill," Siler replies. "Dr. Jackson."

Oh shit, a general, Sam thinks. She says nothing but she straightens up a little just in case. There's a nagging feeling from somewhere in the back of her head like she's seen him before sometime in her lifetime.

"How's it goin?"

The General's voice sounds way too cheery for the mornings. She wonders if he's just had his coffee.

"Oh, I'm just showing Colonel Carter to her quarters."

Once his eyes reach hers, she salutes him.

"Sir," she greets.

"At ease, Colonel." He regards her with a laidback nature unlike that of any other Air Force general she's ever met. "So, you're a newbie?"

Sam shrugs.

"Does working at the L.A. Shatterdome for ten years count as a newbie?"

Was that a bit too snarky for an insubordinate?

His eyes narrow, but she can see the hint of amusement. Score.

"Yeah, you gotta be careful," said the man next to General O'Neill. Probably Dr. Jackson. "She's smarter than you are."

General O'Neill regards him with a questioning look.

"And you know her?"

"No. But I've heard of her."

Sam thinks that this is normal everyday snarky banter between geek and flyboy. She glances at Siler and sees his stoic face. Yup, it's normal.

The man reaches his hand out towards Sam for a handshake.

"Daniel Jackson, by the way. I'm an archaeologist."

"He studies Kaiju for a living," General O'Neill quips.

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"No, I'm saying that like it's kinda weird."

"Anyways, Sam Carter is known for her groundbreaking work on the Jaegers. I mean, all the credit goes to Dr. Lars Gottlieb but you did your fair share."

Sam stares at Dr. Jackson, unsure of what to say. Nobody's really talked to her about her work on the Jaeger Program because she never really sought public attention, but she appreciates his acknowledgement.

"Um, thanks," she says. Before she could say anything, a Chinese scientist catches Daniel's attention.

"Daniel Jackson," the scientist says in Mandarin. "You're needed in one of the labs."

"Thanks, Dr. Guo." He then turns to O'Neill and Sam. "I'll see you guys later then?"

"Breakfast," General O'Neill replies. "Same time, same place."

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Carter," Dr. Jackson says.

"You too," Sam says.

Daniel then gets whisked away, leaving Sam and General O'Neill alone standing face to face. For a moment they stare at each other in an awkward silence.

"So," he says. "I should leave you to unpack your things."

"Yes, sir," she replies with a nod.

"All new crewmembers need to go through a physical with our CMO. Protocol and everything. Breakfast is in an hour, so you can go see her after you eat."

"Thank you, sir."

"Welcome to the Shatterdome."

Sam nods and General O'Neill go on his merry way. For a moment, she stands at her door, watching him leave before another stray thought comes to mind that makes her call out to the general.

"Wait!" Sam exclaimed. "You were one of the Jaeger pilots for Romeo Blue, right?"

General O'Neill freezes. He glances over his shoulder and stares at Sam with a look that could dissolve titanium. She somewhat backpedals at the deathly glare. Something tells her she crossed some sort of line.

"Yeah. Why?"

His voice is controlled and careful as if he's trying hard not to break.

"I worked on Romeo Blue for a few years," Sam says in a forced casualness in response to his glare. "Like the machinery and engines. I think I've seen you a few times. I dunno. It may just be me."

His gaze becomes darker and Sam's sure she's crossing over uncharted territory. Without a word, General O'Neill turns around and leaves, his stride more brisk and tense than when he came in earlier.

Sam sighs; she really does have a knack at making awkward situations worse. She takes the key in her hand to open the door into her quarters.

Her room is just the same as it was in California except that the walls are a bit rusty and the furniture is a bit worn down. There's the usual bunk bed, desk with a billboard where people usually pin up letters and photos, and closet for all her clothes.

All her things are gathered in the middle of the room. It's nothing much really, just a luggage full of clothes, a tote bag full of little miscellaneous items and a cardboard box filled with her family's collection of DVD movies. She's especially happy there's a hologram television across her bunk bed.

Sam yawns, only realizing how tired she is from the trip. She saunters across her room and collapses onto the springy mattress of the lower bed, taking the blankets with her. She has a long day and she needs all the sleep she can get.

Her head hits the pillow and soon, she's fast asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Catch You in the Drift - Chapter 2**

**A/N: I'm finally getting this story going! :)**

* * *

An hour later, Sam gets awoken by the sound of the all too familiar alarm, signaling dinnertime for the Shatterdome crew. Feeling fuzzy and a bit groggy, she slips into her dark regulation uniform and heads outside, weaving her way through the rust stained concrete hallways of her new home. It doesn't take her that long to find the cafeteria; it's right near the barracks where she's staying, just like in Los Angeles.

It doesn't take too long to go through queue to get food, despite the length of people in line. Sam glances down, watching her tray as food gets piled on it. She's pleasantly surprised at today's meal, a colorful spectrum of authentic Chinese food: salt and pepper pork chops, shrimp fried rice, gai lan, a small bowl of wonton soup, and a few pieces of shumai dim sum leftover from lunch. It's quite different from the usual American meal consisting of meatloaf and salad and corn.

Once she grabs food, she stands off to the side, scanning over the sea of unfamiliar faces. She feels a bit awkward; everyone is so familiar with each other and every table is filled up with crew members. She knows that wherever she sits, she'll feel the least bit welcome.

She catches a glimpse of General O'Neill and Doctor Jackson sitting in the far corner of a table. For a moment, she glances out in their direction and considers heading over there and sitting with them because they're literally the only two people she recognizes. However, O'Neill lifts his head and finds himself glancing straight back at her. She expects-well, more like _wishes-_that the General would make a sign to ensure her that she's welcome to sit with them. Maybe a smile or a head tilt. But he glances back down at the meal and continues eating.

Sam sighs, feeling a little dejected. It feels a little too much like middle school, very new-girl-in-the-cafeteria-esque. She thinks about sneaking the food back in her room and eating alone until taps on her shoulder.

"Hi!"

Sam jumps at the sound of a woman's voice, a little bit of the wonton soup spilling onto the tray. She turns around and sees a short, petite woman glancing at her with a big smile on her face.

"Um," Sam replies. "Hi."

"Need a place to sit?"

"I guess."

"C'mon, let's go."

Sam follows the woman into the tables, heading towards the far corner where O'Neill and Jackson are seated.

"I'm Dr. Janet Fraiser," the woman says. "The CMO of the Shatterdome. You're Samantha Carter, right?"

"Uh, yeah. How did you know?"

"Staring off into the distance looking for a place to sit? That screams 'new girl.' And I heard a Colonel Samantha Carter got transferred here. Might as well make you feel welcome."

"Make me feel welcome?" Sam asks with a smirk. "Or just buttering me up for a physical?"

"You got me," Fraiser says with a laugh.

They end up siting at the table right next to O'Neill and Jackson. Sam tries not to ignore the fact that the General's eyes are following her as she passes them and she makes a note to sit in such a way that her back is turned to him.

"So," Janet asks, digging into the food. "What brings you here?"

"I don't know yet," Sam replies, taking a bite into the pork chops. "It's a bit exhilarating. Suddenly I'm waking up to go to work in California and now I'm here. In China."

"Well, they had to have brought you up here for a reason. The Los Angeles Shatterdome is great, but they're second in line. This place is the front lines. The best of the best get transferred here, so I'm sure they have plans for you."

Sam frowns at Dr. Fraiser. She shakes her head and doesn't press for information.

"Mom!"

A sound of a teenage girl running towards their table catches both women's attentions.

"What now, Cassie?" Fraiser asks in a stern mother voice.

"Can I go out to the city?" she asks

"Alone?"

"Uh, no. I'm going with T. There's a small music festival that I wanna go check out."

Fraiser frowns.

"Fine," she mutters. "Be careful, okay? Charge your cell phone and keep it with you at all times."

"Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much, Mom! I love you!"

"Oh, Cassandra," Fraiser adds. "This is Colonel Carter. She just got transferred here from California."

"Nice to meet you, Colonel," Cassie shakes hands with Sam. "You can call me Cassie."

"And you can call me Sam," she replies. "Nice to meet you, too."

Cassie bodes Fraiser a goodbye kiss and runs off.

"Daughter?" Sam asks.

"Yeah," Fraiser replies. "But she's adopted. We found her during the search and rescue in Vancouver when the Kaiju hit the Pacific Northwest. She was just standing in the center of destruction, all alone. God, it still breaks my heart, y'know?"

"Who's 'we'?"

"Oh, the General and Daniel and Murray."

Fraiser tilts her head towards the table behind Sam.

"They're all pretty much her fathers," she continues. "We love and care for her so much."

"General O'Neill?"

"Yeah. You've met him, I assume?"

Sam shrugs.

"Sorta. I mean we've met, but I don't think he likes me."

Fraiser rolls her eyes.

"That's General O'Neill for you. He'll give a stinkeye to anyone he's just met. You know, military bravado and all that."

Sam nods and cranes her head back once again to look at the General, who is currently in a conversation with Daniel. His features are softened as he talks to the archaeologist, a contrast with the tense and almost irritated expressions he's given her.

"Are you done eating?" Fraiser asks. "We can get to the infirmary early and I can get you your physical."

"Sounds great," Sam replies. "Thanks… uh, Doctor?"

"Just call me Janet. C'mon. Let's go."

* * *

After Sam gets cleared for duty, she heads back to the barracks since curfew in an hour and there's really nothing she could do but hang out in her room. However, as she's digging for her keys in her pockets, she sees a small picture on the ground, right in front of her door and decides to pick it up just in case someone's looking for it. She knows how valuable photographs are during these tough times, especially with the Shatterdome crew members as many no longer have families or are away from them because of military assignment.

When she looks closer at the picture, she's surprised to find out that General O'Neill is in the picture, even more when she sees the young child next to him. In the picture, O'Neill looks happier and relaxed, unlike the brooding General she met a few hours earlier. He also looks younger, with brown hair on his head instead of the greying hair. The young child looks like O'Neill, with the same brown eyes and smile. He's probably O'Neill's son. She turns the photo around and sees something scribbled in the back.

_My dearest Charlie_

Sam feels a pang of sorrow for O'Neill, assuming that his son probably perished in a Kaiju attack. She buries the photo in her pockets, making a mental note to give the photo back to O'Neill when she crosses paths with him.

Well, _if_ she ever crosses paths with him.


	3. Chapter 3

"General Hammond?"

At first, Sam's a bit miffed that she's woken up a good two hours before the first morning alarm by a persistent airmen knocking on her door. Her moving from California to Hong Kong has given her a bad case of jet lag and she wants to get her sleeping schedule back into place before she's thrust into busy Jaeger work. But all her irritation dissipates when she peeks her head into the office and finds a familiar face greeting her.

"Actually," George Hammond replies. Sam steps into the office and salutes him. "Secretary-General."

Sam's eyes widen and she stands even stick straighter than before to show enough respect to the Shatterdome commander.

"Wow," she says, her voice awe-stricken. "Congratulations, Sir."

Hammond smiles and waves a hand at her.

"Oh, stand down for now. I don't want to talk to Colonel Carter, I want to talk to my Sammie."

Sam chuckles and heads around the table and into the embrace of her Uncle George, a close friend of the family who watched Sam grow up and flourish in both her military and scientific fields, especially during the rise of the Kaiju War.

"I heard what happened in San Diego," Hammond continues. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that alone."

"It's alright," she replies with a fake half smile. The sudden deaths of her family members when the Kaiju rampaged across Southern California is a memory she doesn't want to relive just yet.

Much to her pleasure, Hammond doesn't press on any information and notions Sam to sit on the leather chair in front of his office. As she sits, he reaches into his office drawer and pulls out a small pile of manila folders.

"Anyways," he says. "Do you know why you're here?"

"No, Sir," she replies, her eyes following the General's as he picks up one folder and reads the contents inside.

"Well, Colonel, you've been highly regarded for your exceptional work on Jaeger mechanics down in the Los Angeles Shatterdome."

"Excuse me?" she asks with a frown creasing her face. As far as she knows, being under the misogynistic and condescending command Secretary-General West made her almost want to quit the Jaeger program. The last thing she would expect is high marks on her report from that jerk of a man.

"Your reports have turned heads in this place."

"General West seems to beg to differ."

"Which is exactly why you got transferred in the first place." Hammond hands her the manila folder. "You've impressed a lot of people this past year. The science department is throwing your name around as becoming possible head of the Jaeger program. They have big plans in the following years."

Sam scans over the contents of the folder, giving a quick glance to the computer generated image of a Jaeger before moving onto the written reports.

"They want to start building Mark-4 Jaegers?" she asks.

"Not exactly. We do have a Mark-4 prototype, however, we'll get to that later. You will be overseeing the building process of each Mark-4 Jaeger."

"Is there a difference between these and Mark-3's?"

"Reading your reports, Jaeger mechanics want to stray away from installed nuclear reactors and transition to digital technology. This is to ensure the safety of our pilots without the risk of long term effects."

Sam nods feeling anticipation and excitement rise with her new job opportunity. In Los Angeles, she was just another worker in the sea of a Shatterdome. Now, she could actually make a difference.

"Now," Hammond continues, pulling up yet another manila folder and handing it to Sam. "There's another option for you. However, it may cost you the promotion as the head of the science department. I'm giving you an option here because this job intense and life threatening and it needs your full commitment and your physical and psychological energy."

She opens the manila folder and the first thing she sees is a picture of her in full Air Force dress blues with a fake smile plastered on her face. She cringes at the awkward black and white picture and reads the contents of the paper behind it.

REFERENCE EVALUATION FOR THE RECRUITMENT OF NEW JAEGER PILOTS - COL. SAMANTHA CARTER - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

She glances up at Hammond, her jaw dropping and eyes wide.

"That is your second option," he says with an amusing glint in his eyes. "To become a Jaeger co-pilot for our new Mark-4 prototype. You have an impressive record, Colonel, not only with your scientific endeavors, but also in military combat, especially concerning your score in the combat simulator .Of course, it's not definite that you will be a pilot, as every candidate must be evaluated, but I have high hopes for you."

"Wow," Sam whispers. Her only goal since the start of the Kaiju War was to become a Jaeger co-pilot and she's had a rough fight to climb to the top.

"Take time to really let your options marinate in your head," Hammond says. "I'm sure both are life changing decisions for you, one more the other, but I want you to be sure about what you choose. Before you ask, I'm unsure as to who will be your co-pilot, but I'll let you know as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Sir," Sam replies.

"Good. Well, you have an hour until breakfast, so catch a little shut-eye. Evaluations are next week, so I'll need an answer by then. Dismissed."

She salutes and heads out, but not without crashing into a certain Air Force General.

"General O'Neill!" Sam exclaims, placing her hands on his chest. "I'm so sorry, oh god."

O'Neill shakes his head and places his hand on her shoulder. He looks disheveled as anyone would be in the morning: ruffled hair and half open eyes and clothes that he mindlessly threw on. Sam could feel her cheeks burn; she's never really notice how attractive he looks.

"Don't worry 'bout it," he mumbles in the sleepy morning voice that makes her cheeks warmer.

She watches him enter Hammond's office, holding her folders tight against her chest, trying to calm her pounding heart. After taking a few seconds to calm her adrenaline-filled body down, she heads back to her room to catch a quick nap.

_She's standing inside her brother's home in San Diego, in the dining room with the beautiful view of the La Jolla neighborhood and beaches. She's standing at one end of the table, facing the window. Her niece is sitting on the other side of the table, behind the window and in front of her cake._

"_Auntie Sammie! Look at this cake!"_

_Sam wants to move closer to Katie, but she finds her feet stuck into the ground, unable to move._

"_Wow, sweetie," she says. "How old are you now?"_

"_I'm nine years old!"_

_Suddenly, hears a chorus of people singing Happy Birthday, but she could tell something's off;. The singing sounds distorted and dissonant, like garbled sounds in a horror movie. It makes her feel uneasy._

_She tries to move, but no matter how hard she tries, her feet are stuck on the ground. At the same time she notices a figure rising from the ocean. _

"_Katie," Sam warns, her heartbeat growing as the Kaiju steps onto land. "We need to get out of here."_

_The singing grows louder with every second, loud enough so she couldn't hear her own voice._

"_Katie!" she screams, watching as the Kaiju makes a beeline towards their house._

_The singing is deafening now. She once again attempts to move, but nothing is working. She watches in horror as the Kaiju comes ever so closer to her brother's house. She could feel blood trickling down from her ears from the endless singing of Happy Birthday._

_The Kaiju lunges towards their house, towards Katie and her birthday cake, through the glass window and-_

Sam jolts awake, gasping and panting in a mess of sheets.

"Shit," she whispers, burying her sweat drenched face into the cradle of her arms, trying to calm her trembling body.

After a moment, she jumps out of bed, pulls up a pair of black cargo pants and storms outside.

Of course, once she steps out of her room, she finds herself running into General O'Neill.

"Colonel," he greets.

"Sir," Sam replies, her voice a little breathless from her nightmare..

"Seems like we're always bumping into each other," he says.

"Yeah."

"I live in the room across yours so…"

"Oh, I see."

For a second, Sam could see a hint of concern in his eyes at her unkempt state of dress.. The fluorescent lights make her cold sweat shine and she knows her hair is sticking up on all different sides.

"Are you heading out to breakfast?" he asks.

"Uh, maybe later."

O'Neill nods and she figures it's a good time to leave. With a salute, she turns around and makes a beeline towards the gym to distract herself from the dream.

At the end of the hallway, Sam turns around and finds that O'Neill's eyes are still on her. She shakes off the queasy feeling that fills on her stomach.


End file.
